AUTISTIC LINCS: Familiar ground and fresh topics too

Hello there. Callum Brazzo here, continuing to make Autistic Lincs. A very special week for Autistic Lincs as it's our one year anniversary.

It's been a whole year of forming Autistic Lincs and the foundation laid down in Autism: A Human Story, has not changed because autistic people are rooted in humanity as we all are and autistic rights are human rights.

The political landscape has shifted with the election of Donald Trump, bringing vaccination fears, shared by the company he has kept, back to the forefront, and has made for very fertile ground for true autistic advocates to stand up and use their platforms to repel the myths of the MMR-autism link because we are not diseases to cure, or broken toys to throw out the pram, but humans.

Callum Brazzo (7534689)

Anti-vaccination rhetoric is extremely harmful to push forward but there is another deeply harmful agenda lurking in the form of ABA (Applied Behavioural Analysis). This ABA therapy, widely used in the educational landscape, is damaging the autistic person's sense of their own identity.

But, as I will link below, there are other ways to achieve the outcomes that educators wish to achieve without the compromise that ABA inflicts.

With the anti-vaccination AKA anti-vax movement and ABA alike, it is once again imperative to assess whose needs are being served as we progress through 2019 in the ever-evolving sphere of life.

So whilst there will be unfortunately familiar ground to cover, as we march on... through 2019, there is always going to be room for fresh topics to cover and always in the shoes, the footsteps, of the autistic community.

The Autistic Lincs Facebook page was created to reflect the fast-paced kaleidoscope of news and I am happy to make a few announcements regarding the Facebook page.

On Friday at 1pm, we will have a LIVE CHAT from Gosberton House Academy!

Because for all the national stories I speak on, it's a necessity to include your own local stories if you want to get the full picture.

So why WOULDN'T I put the highly respected establishment in the spotlight?

On a personal note, Gosberton House was an X spot on my map to unearthing my full potential.

But there were others too...

John Fielding School. Boston College.

Watch this space.

As we continue to make Autistic Lincs, feedback is key so get in contact with me or the editor about your favourite column so far and any new subjects you want to chat about because the idea is to unite rather than divide. Enough of that happens in the world.

Speaking of uniting, as I am literally writing this column (evidence of the fast-paced kaleidoscopic nature of news) Connor Sparrowhawk is a name being discussed online as one to headline an Eddie Stobart truck as he adored them.

Connor Sparrowhawk, known to many as Laughing Boy, was an 18-year-old boy subject to gross malpractice, in a very blunt summary, and it is not that I want to avoid his story, it is in the news for all to see, but I just want his story to influence change.

Immortalising his legacy in an Eddie Stobard Truck would not only be a physical, communal reminder and public display of unity, but it would metaphorically be a way to signal that the stories do not end but instead they move us all forward.

And as Autistic Lincs moves forward, I will continue to tell authentic, collaborative, human stories.

Further Reading and Events:

(Bourne autistic pioneer)

David Snape Show- Walk For Autism

www.facebook.com/events/389577241873181/

New organisation on its way featuring The Autistic Advocate, Kieran Rose: